No foul play in death of former Kazakh official: Austrian authorities

Austrian authorities confirmed Wednesday that there was no foul play involved in the apparent suicide of former Kazakh ambassador Rakhat Aliyev, following the results of an autopsy.

Aliyev was found hanging in his cell with gauze bandages wrapped around a clothes hanger in Josefstadt prison in Vienna on Tuesday morning.

Prison officials denied from the outset that any suspicious activity was involved, and that sensor technology showed his door had not been opened since Monday evening.

His lawyers, however, insisted their client had no reason to take his own life.

Deputy head of the public prosecutor in Vienna, Gerhard Jarosch, said the preliminary results of the autopsy all indicate the death was caused by suicide, though toxicology results are yet to be confirmed and should be received within a few days.

Jarosch said in addition a study of the cell of the 52-year-old former senior official by the crime scene unit of the Vienna State Office of Criminal Investigations also showed no suspicious activity, nor did video recordings of the corridor outside the cell.

He also said he knew nothing of an alleged diary Aliyev kept in his cell that may have indicated he was being extorted, that local media had been speculating on. He added that this would also not be directly related to finding the actual cause of death.

The visitors book for the prison is being examined to see who may have visited Aliyev while he was in custody. Endit